Nanotechnology

1. Nanotechnology By: Charles Peterson

2. What is Nanotechnology? • Nano: It is a SI unit to denote “one billionth” • Why nano? • Nano is the size of an typical atom • Nanotechnology has also become a blanket term for research that is in dimensions that are less than 1,000 nanometers • Nanotechnology is the future manufacture of molecular size machines and devices

3. Forefathers of Nanotechnology • First there was Feynman in 1959 in a classical talk said “The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom” • Eric Drexler with his 1985 book “Engines of Creation” inspired many, myself included, to go into the science fields and become part of this new field. He is also the founder of the Foresight Institute. • Robert Freitas is the author of the reference set “Nanomedicine” and is considered the foremost expert on the application of nanotech to medicine. • Ralph Merkle is an author of many papers on nanotechnology and founder of the Nanotechnology group at Xerox PARC.

4. The Possibilities of Nanotechnology • A lot of the possibilities of nanotechnology may seem sci-fi but much of it is based on sound science. • The main area in nanotechnology that gets the most attention is that of medicine and biology. • Bacteria and even viruses could be destroyed using nanoprobes within a persons body to be a kind of second immune defense. • Cryogenics is even banking on the usage of nanomachines that could go in and repair tissue that had been destroyed from the freezing process. • Even just nanosensors that would monitor a persons health would be greatly beneficial

5. Respirocytes are Mechanical Artificial Red Cells designed by Robert Freitas which could one day allow divers to stay under water without air for hours, could be used on the battle field against deadly gases, and other uses. • Computers one day soon will have to fully rely on nanoscale manufacture to advance. And may even have silicon chips be replaced by the nanoscale carbon tubes as a more effective building block for the computer’s chips • Even basic machining and engineering would be changed. As Drexler envisions it you could take a vat of raw materials and add nanomachines that are preprogrammed to build a certain item then just wait. A car, plane, etc with little or no faults to it.

6. Areas of Nanoscale Research of Importance • Many different science fields start to converge when you come down the nanoscale. Physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and computational are all greatly important in bringing about the possibility of nanoassemblers and machines. • Cellular biology and biochemistry for example has natural nanomachinery, proteins and viruses are the best choices, for understanding the complexity of functionality molecular machines.

7. Sources of Information on Nanotechnology • The magazine Scientific America has had many topics of nanotech related articles • www.foresight.org • nanodot.org • www.nanozine.com